Rangers-Lightnings in review

1) Amazing how good you look when the puck goes in. Also amazing how much different this Rangers team is when most of its pieces are on the ice and somewhat healthy. Each line, each D-pair looks more like it should be getting the minutes it gets. And when the puck goes in, even the coach seems smarter :)

2) Rick Nash=Monster. Pretty good first outing for a guy who missed four games with what was almost certainly a concussion – Henrik Lundqvist was marveling at how good Nash looked despite barely working out and just sitting on his couch all week … in other words, he had a concussion or he was being treated as if he had a concussion.

3) … but the guy did everything, and after the game took it to heart that Martin St. Louis beat him to the slot for the beauty of a re-direction that was the only goal Lundqvist would allow to that dangerous team. Was accountable. Felt responsible. Gotta like that. Offensively, Nash just a force, start to finish, making space for Brad Richards and Carl Hagelin, taking a few nasty wristers, twice made those finesse moves around defensemen that we’re starting to expect. He doesn’t throw his body around like, say, Ryan Callahan, but he uses his size and strength as much as he uses his speed and his hands, and when it’s time to deliver a hit, he does.

4) So, the Rangers who gave up a fair amount of their team to get him, naturally, looked a little lost without him. And if he plays like that, he will score more goals, too.

5) That all said, I thought a lot of players (all of the defensemen, for example) played really well, much better than lately, in this game, including Richards, who had some extra jump – maybe it was the sweater on the other side as much as it was Nash? Whatever, he had the puck more, moved it, backchecked; he looked a lot closer to the 2011-12 Richards … except on the power play point, particularly on that short 5-on-3. Ugh.

6) Where was I going with that? Oh yeah, that all said, this was the Lightning which for the third time was just a mismatch for the Rangers, who let the Rangers skate, let them use the middle of the ice, let them impose their will on the cycle. Let’s see them do this against Pittsburgh, Boston (I know, they have grinded out two wins against the B’s) or the Devils before we get too impressed.

7) Ryan McDonagh did talk briefly (listen to the audio in the previous thread) about an adjustment the team (the coaches) made to prevent Tampa Bay from taking away the wall as a lot of teams have tried to do since, well, since the Eastern Conference finals.

8) Looks to me that Tampa Bay doesn’t do that Guy Boucher thing at center ice anymore, or at least doesn’t do it very well anymore, and also it looks like the Lightnings, who were winning by scoring tons early and not winning nearly as much lately, still might have goalie issues.

9) Hagelin just keeps getting better and better. Not just with that amazing speed, but also with his smarts and his hands, and not a bad shot, either. And when he plays the wall, he doesn’t look or play very small.

10) Another big game from the Captain, who is still probably playing with less than two 100 percent shoulders. (another listen recommendation: Torts on Callahan post-game, in the previous thread). He made two big plays on the Derek Stepan goal, followed that with a big hit. He’s finding his whole game.

11) I know he could have put his feet up and had a couple of power bars and fruit smoothies during stretches of this game, but Lundqvist made an all-world save on Steven Stamkos on the 2-on-1, stopped a couple of his one-time rockets, too, got beat only on an all-world play by St. Louis. He took the game-winning goal against Winnipeg to heart. That’s the way he is. It is terribly obvious to say this, but the Rangers need a lot more games like this out of their guy.

12) There were some real pansification penalties, on Steve Eminger, on Alexander Killorn and on Eric Brewer.

13) The Rangers power play. I thought the first one was really good, had five or six shots. I thought the one that included the brief 5-on-3 stunk, reverting to the old “four guys above the circles can’t fail” strategy, and Richards getting that shot blocked for a 3-on-5 short-handed chance. The one on which the Rangers scored, they got a huge break with linesman Brad Kovachik keeping the puck at center ice when it was clearly going all the way down the ice, and would have allowed the Lightnings to change.

14) When Tortorella talks about the kids like he did pre-game last night, and explains why he sends them down or why he plays them, I don’t understand how people can still thinks it’s personal with him.

15) After being loud and savvy in the loss to Winnipeg, the place went mostly silent again last night.

16) Another way to dominate: Ya boys went 38-19 in the circle.

17) Stu Bickel. I know the rule of thumb is you don’t do one of those staged fights when you’re leading. But at home, I think it’s a different rule of thumb. Leading on the road? Let it go. Don’t get the crowd riled. Leading at home, why the hell not? Plus, frankly, it’s about time somebody in blue dropped the mitts.

844 Comments

as somebody mentioned a while ago, it’s pretty hilarious that certain “fans” and “regulars” here almost never show up after a win … nothing to complain about, can’t hope the coach gets fired in the morning, can’t trade anybody who had a few bad shifts. Can’t blame a third- or fourth-liner.

But fear not. The Rangers will probably lose a few games along the way and they’ll all be back with their predictable garbage.

CARPED!! I luv this team win or lose ,I just can’t bring myself to tear them apart when they don’t play well. Well maybe Richie Rich funny that was my favorite comic when I was younger lol. Carp I will read your game review in the morning as always with my coffee . It was an honor & a pleasure to meet you too ! BTW dancing Larry was sitting in back of us :) I also got this close to Dave & Kenny but my daughter wanted to leave . :(

Miller played very well.
Boyle didn’t.
Halpern and Powe are good every game it seems.
Richards is impossibly slow.
Stahl was brilliant in his own end. His positioning on the walls and outlet passes were sublime. But he has such a slow release on his shot that they invariably get blocked often leading to odd man rushes.
Pyatt was really good and has forechecked well all season. He gets his shots and redirects and has been unlucky not to have scored more.
Will the Rangers have a game this season when they are leading after two and not get outshot in the third?
Hagelin scored because he took a slapshot instead of that puny wrister.
Stepan just keeps getting better.

Just two thoughts, the Rangers did not seem that good in the third. They did not carry the puck into the offensive zone through the middle as much and played much more dump and chase which led them to chase the puck more.

“Richards had jump, maybe it was the opponent’s jersey. Backchecks, too.

SHots 20-1 an dup 2-0. Forecheck. Aggressive in neutral zone.

Hagelin’s speed make that guy No. 3 go down?\

Lundqvist made an all-world save on Stamkos on the 2-on-1. got beat on an all-world play by St. Louis.

Callahan with two big plays on the Stepan goal, a big hit later. Captain seems to be finding his whole game, and his shoulder’s probably not 100 percent

Nash had such a good first period, too bad he lost his man on the TB goal. Also happened on teh shift on which Nash-Ruchards-Gaborik were united.

Some real pansification penalties, eminger , killorn (ppg).

Huge break with linesman Kovachuk keeping puck in. First PP was really good I thought. The second one was awful, reverting to the old four guys above the circles “can’t fail” strategy. Richards getting that shot blocked on the 5 on 3 was ridiculous.

Tampa Bay showed how dangerous it really is with the 2-1 goal.

Gotta like what you’ve seen from Eminger. Stabilizes gthird pair and plays the body.

When Torts talks about the kids like he did last night, I don’t understand how people still thinks it’s personal.

Great Review, it’s nice to stop here and see win or lose, a lot of what goes through the mind of a fan watching the game appears here in print the next day, as well as the stuff we miss.

You can’t look away when Nash in on the ice, for fear you may miss something great. And Hagelin, for one brief moment early in the first- the nifty stick work, the jersey tucked in the back of his pants, the long hair, the left-handed shot, the wicked slappah- resembled 99 on the ice, minus the Jofa helmet.

Now there’s our hockey team. Nash was incredible and its amazing how much better everyone plays when they are slotted in correctly.

If Gabby and JT Miller are on the third line, wouldn’t we get more out of them if we moved Miller to center and found a wing with more offensive upside? You could probably get Boyle just as many minutes playing with Powe and Halpern on the fourth line and PKing if he’s just roll all four lines. Then again Boyle certainly isnt a liability defensively, far from it.

1. Great out of the gate – We’ve been waiting all season for the Rangers to ambush their opponents right from the opening faceoff. Twenty shots – very impressive. If not for Garon, the boys could have had another 2-3 goals in the first period.

2. Nash earned his cash – Don’t know what it is about the Bolts that brings out the best in #61, but he had a tremendous game against them yet, again. Twelve shots on goal, including the final marker of the contest – a highlight reel special. The man can play, folks.

3. 19 again – This was probably the first game all season in which it didn’t seem as though Brad Richards was skating uphill. He had some good jump, made some excellent passes and looked engaged throughout the match. Hopefully a sign of better things to come.

4. From Hags to riches – After being in the coach’s chateau bow wow earlier in the campaing,
Carl Hagelin has become a force for the Rangers. Hard to think of another player in the league that uses his speed to such a distinct advantage. He ripped that shot right by Garon, too.

5. Absolute Bull Pit – I certainly mean this with no disrespect to the musical tastes of anyone who posts here. But how can someone with no talent such as Pit Bull get a recording contract, and on top of that, become a shill for Bud? Did Mick and Keith and Lennon and McCartney pave the way for that? Geez.

As noted in #6, the true test will come when these Rangers face the more physical teams. This win was what the Rangers needed in terms of confidence, but if they can play to this skill level aGAINst the big B’s while playing with some grit themselves, they’ll be fine come spring. But that is a long way off.

One thing I have noticed, along the lines of the team’s grit and “jam” as Torts like to say. Face shields, this team lost a lot of guys who go without the face shield: Prust, Dubie, Feds, Mitchell, Rupp, even #16. Replacing them with Nash, Miller, Halpern, Powe.

I thought Richards was better too. He just seems confounded now about when to shoot. It is like he loses his hand eye coordination in shooting situations. But he made some nice passes and won faceoffs. I like the way miller hits—not trying to obliterate. He is focused on the puck when he is physical. Nash has ridiculous hands for a guy as big as a bear. They seemed coordinated in all three zones.

Couldnt believe what i was seeing those first 2 periods, was like they were playing a peewee team at times, bossing them along the boards, streaking past them in the neutral zone and a few good hard hits. You can see why they wanted Nash so badly, when he is there he is a complete beast of a player, almost undefendable, he carries the puck so far away from the reach of the opposition player and uses that huge body to shield it too – i literally blinked and missed his goal the move and his hands were so fast

I know everyone is all over the PP but I thought the first one they had was kind of good and then they scored on the last one. Not bad.

The thing is, our boys are trying to learn to work the puck low where they have a numbers advantage but this team always has trouble with passing and everyone is always passing a stride behind the guy they pass to. Makes it tough to get it going.

Good win, and it’s great to get back Nash and others from injury, but I’m not getting overly excited. We’ve had our way with Tampa Bay this year. For whatever reason, they do not match up well with us (to our benefit).

Like you said, let’s see this kind of play / scoring opportunities when we play someone like Boston or Montreal.

It was nice to get back on the winning side. Although, I think we should look a little big picture here. They embarrassed a really bad defensive team with an average goalie. The one good thing I did see that made me feel a little better was they actually made an effort to play along the boards more and dump it in and beat down on their defense. Hopefully, this isn’t a situation where they have confidence to do that only against the softer teams because that’s the way they MUST play to win.

It’s two points. But, it didn’t change my opinion that they still will miss the playoffs. They played 12 home games (7-4-1) and only 7 road games (2-4-1) with two more home games coming this week. I’ll need to see them learn to play tough and physical on the road before I’m convinced.

Not trying to be a downer, just not going nuts because they won one game.

As for the PP, the one thing I still can’t figure out is why the refusal to use Strahlman who has a shot that can get through to the net on the 1st unit at the point instead of Richards. Respecting his shot will provide Nash more room instead of what happened 3x yesterday where Nash was forced way above the circles to take 25 ft shots instead of from within 10 feet with on the move.

Great review, Carp. Just really dig the way you see things. Dissect so much and right on!!

Good win. I’ll go out on a limb and say ‘turning point’ to season. Sure, unlike Chicago, they will lose some. But this team’s now poised to move in a good way. I am excited to be there and watch.

The ‘d’ they played last year was better but physically tougher. My dream is they begin to implement more shot blocking as this short season moves forward so in the playoffs they’re really tough again. The positive there is that they boys might not get hurt during the regular season and could surprise the opposition with something new. Just a thought.

Very few guys were NOT working hards last night. Boyle still a mystery. Just there, had a few hits, but blaaaah. I still believe life is different for him without his buddy. Just me.

The defense is better with Eminger. Fairly steady. But you will not win a championship with that and Gilroy. How about, a big strong point man, Sather? Been asking for it for years. What is it YOU are missing. They are out there, dummy.

Two great points were:
1. Nasher…. just how good is this guy? we don’t now. best we have ever had, I’ll say. Could be.
2. Hank—– is back. best game? saved the big ones. How great to see Mr. Vezina return with the rest of them!!! A little less of family and more of the team. We need you to steal some, Hank!!! Please be there.

I predicted 4th place and I am still there. We are gonna reach a dog fight over the next vew weeks.
ITs’ all good folks. No injuries, all good!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carp – According to John G. between the benches, Bickel didn’t want to get in the fight. He was trying to play the puck and the Tampa Bay player jumped him. John said Stu was not happy about it. By the way, Bickel is a pretty good fighter.

Carp, I know that I’m not one of the people that comment was about but I still want to state for the record that tue and thur nights I’m in school otherwise I’d be cranking out comments with yous instead of just collapsing on the couch when I get home :)

See Hwirth, I think that the Lightning are a perfect team for our team to play in this situation. They can build on that 3rd period against Winnipeg and they can do so effectively because they match up so well against the Lightning (who probably have borderline NHL goaltending at this point).

Good win for the boys. Now they have to bring it once again against an only slightly better team in the Sabres. Then the Phlyers (tough game) and then the re-emerging NY Ice Mets.

Watched the first period at the office. The Rangers had jump. They had jam. They had “it.” I don’t know what it is about Tampa, but it seems that they bring out the best in the Rangers. Now they need to keep it up during the rest of the homestand.

Hagelin is becoming quite a player. It’s about the time Sather trades him for somebody like Teemu Selanne. :)

Only got to watch a little of the game, but the thing that impressed me the most seemed to be the speed of our team attacking. I also really like the way Miller has been playing the last few games. He takes the body when he can, is patient with the puck and has had some nice chances.

Just goes to show how important Nash, McD, and Del Zotto are to this team. Nash alone can put this team on his back and carry it to a win, McD can shut half a team down with his defense (Hank doesn’t always have to pitch a 1 goal game, but it sure easier to get 2 pts when he does) Del Zotto is a big part of the Defense, he is only going to get better with time, you tend to forget he is the youngest DMan we have at only 22 yrs old.

6pts behind Pittsburgh with 2 games in hand. Not such a big hill to climb. It can be done!!!

Carp how could any Ranger fan NOT COME HERE after a WIN? People need oxygen ;)

I think we are lucky as Ranger fans that despite Kreider’s struggles our youth pipeline continues to churn out kids like Miller – and those first 3 goals: Shaggy, Step and Cally – all home grown.
No real surprise that the return of the Mack, Nash and DZ gave the team a lift – and Hank provided the 3rd period wall when the pressure was on.

(Return of the Mack) it is
(Return of the Mack) come on
(Return of the Mack) oh my God
(You know that I’ll be back) here I am
(Return of the Mack) once again
(Return of the Mack) pump up the world
(Return of the Mack) watch my flow

Gabby has been flat lately, Boyle only has one point, Miller seems to play at full speed until he’s out of gas. But this line could find some points. It will be interesting to see how long Torts keeps them together.

Carp, thanks a lot for your insights concerning the Star of the Game selection process early this morning. That is the kind of inside information that keeps me, and I’m sure many others, coming back to reading your blog every day. Please keep up the good work!

Good point, NYR. It is hard to see Gaborik when the puck isn’t in the net. I thought he played fine. He wasn’t Nazem Kadri or anything but Tort thought he was good enough for 14 minutes (and change). He was fine.

The top line was odd with Pyatt on it. Richards Nash and Hagelin made up another I think. Obviously they were juggled. There was one moment in the third when Gaborik, Nash and Richards were on the ice together but, it didn’t look good and didn’t last more than 30 seconds.

Nash with his 16 shot attempts (12 on goal) shots on goal practically matched the entire teams offensive chances when compared to the Montreal game last Saturday (17 shots on goal by the entire team). So does this mean the Rangers are twice as good with Nash than without Nash?

Oh. Even more hatred for Boyle. Who is a MUCH more responsible and useful player than The Kreider.

Boyle played hard last night, threw some hits, killed penalties VERY well (the Lightning barely gained the zone on their first PP). This team is made up of Role players and Boyle fills his role. He’s doing that well right now.

Kreider is supposed to fill a different role. And he’s not doing that.

Manny, exactly. When Kreider doesn’t score, he’s not very useful (right now). Essentially, he’s like an unproven Gaborik, but there are some who beat him up and expect Kreider to get first line minutes.

When Boyle, doesn’t score, at least he can bring some other things to the table. At least, when he’s playing like last year.

Great review. Nash was the first star!! How could they not give Nash one of the 3 stars? What game was the media watching? Your point about Boucher and center ice. What do you mean by that? Clogging the neutral zone?

For all the negativity Rangers are only 6 points behind first place with a game in hand.

I always love reading your reviews Carp. Very succinct! Nash is just such a beast and they need to keep him on the ice. Such a different team with him out there. Last night was a good start but we have seen it before this year, especially against the Lightening. Lets hope they get on a role here and start scaring some other teams again! Still need some scoring from Gaborik and I think he will eventually be back on a line with Stepan and Callahan rather than Pyatt. Only time will tell.

Manny – don’t confuse hatred for Boyle and matters of fact. He has scored 1 pt. this season. It is what it is. Sure, he could throw 5000 checks a game… That would be awesome. However, fact remains he has 1 pt. You can twist that however you want.

If I make a mistake during a lecture and one of my students points it out, they arent showing hate towards e3, they are simply stating the obvious.

I thought Gaby was solid last night. Didn’t score, but he had a few chances and he was hard on the puck on the forecheck. Like a few of you have said, it’s hard to notice Gaby when he doesn’t score since that’s the one thing he does best by far, but he played well IMO.

stranger- yea that slapper by hags was pure awesomeness. hes now tied for the team lead in goals too. i’d love to see more of our guys taking shots like that more often. were usually on the receiving end of those.

Lots of Carp love on here after the Rangers win. We need to raise the Carp love index after losses…no one should get ripped just because they don’t agree with you…if he agreed with you, you’d both be wrong.

Swagilen Hagilen has caught up to Gabby with 7 goals each to lead the team in goals :)

Gaborik is going to score his goals in do time, he will get his points.

Just imagine how Dynamic this team will be when it starts to fire on all cylinders. Last night was Ranger hockey. Now like Carp said we need to see this type of game against the Pittsburghs & Boston type teams in the NHL.

anyone see the cover stroy and pics of Justin Bieber in Lindon last night? I am no old fogey, but hasn’t this sagging pants style run its course already? How much longer? He looks absolutely ridiculous

if I see one more guy’s toes on the train, I’m gonna have to call him out on it. WTB?

And, not to sound like seinfeld, but what is the deal with businessmen, grown-a$$ adult males, wearing backpacks to work the past few years instead of carrying a briefcase? Is 50 the new 15? How long before we all grow up?

Nash’s new nickname should be “Ben Grimm”, or just “Grimm” because he is like some unstoppable Thing out there. He made a few moves that were even nicer than his goal. BIG MAN ON CAMPUS PEOPLE, makes some space and handover your girlfriends. No sense in complaining about it, just hand them over, it’s the way the world works.

I should note that like I said yesterday and Carp said in his comments, lets see how the Rangers do against better teams. Tampa’s defense is awful and their goaltenders are both backups. I can’t name one quality defensive d-man on their team.

There were times where they looked worse than the Rangers did against the Habs where they had 4 guys in the corner and allowed Rangers players to walk out to the slot completely uncovered. The top teams in the East won’t allow that to happen.

the people saying Boyle sucked last night — and please, stop making me try to defend the guy, because I really don’t want to defend him — obviously cannot see past goals and assists. And to suggest that he’s the worst forward on the roster? He’s not the third-liner he needs to be, but he’s better than anybody on the fourth line. So if Kreider, for example, ever knocks him down, somebody else gets benched, not Boyle (as long as he’s playing the way he has the past few games).

And for whomever asked about Miller playing center, Tortorella addressed that pregame. A) Miller prefers the wing and B) the defensive responsibilities of center are too overwhelming for him right now, as he stills struggles with the defensive responsibilities of being a winger.

yea fat guy. it got crushed and ever since then the nail grows in slow and kinda nasty looking. but i can literally peel it off without any pain either. then theres a new tiny nail underneath ready to take its place. its fugged up. i dont wish to discuss it further though. im getting depressed. ;)

God, I love these tweets that, Oooh, oooh, the Rangers have a scout at the Sharks game!

Every team has dozens of scouts, and their job is to go to other teams games. The Blues have a pro scout, for example, who used to work for the Rangers. They play in the West. He lives on the East Coast, which is his coverage area. Every night he will be at a game in NYC, NJ, NYI, Philly, Boston, Buffalo, Washington, Pitt … etc. There are scouts from 10-12 different teams at every game, all the time.

but these twitter newbies see a name they recognize on a seating chart and all of a sudden it’s big news in the stupid twitter world. Tweet a trade!

Carp – Miller started off as a center, as did Kreider, but they are both better suited on the wing.

BTW, I probably missed the O’Reilly offer sheet discussion, but did anyone point out how stupid Jay Feaster is?

Even if Colorado let O’Reilly walk, because he started the season in Europe and missed the cutoff to come back as an FA, he would’ve had to have gone through waivers first before he could’ve joined the Flames and would’ve most likely been picked up by another team.

you should have your kid loop all those old nails onto a necklace and wear it to the beach. Tell the ladies you used to hunt platypuses or something. They won’t know the difference. They’re too worried about what you were wearing when you were staring at that OTHER girl at some party 6 years ago

my daughter started crying one time she saw me peel it off! she said” daddy your foots gonna die”! i then calmed her down and told her what happened and she started laughing at me and calls me monster foot. shes so cute.

I don’t blame Rotter for re-tweeting. The kid works hard and re-tweets a lot of stuff. I blame seasoned hockey writers in pressboxes for tweeting that there are scouts at a game when there are scouts at every game. that’s why they’re called scouts. That’s what they do … scout.

Carp – Great post on Henrik, when he’s on he does make the difference; 4-6 great saves not made and the game can go the other way. Re: the crowd noise. We’ll never have that noise again (Remember the Play-offs vs the Isles in 78/79 & vs the Devils and Vancouver in 94 when at the end of the National Anthem your head left your neck) The people that made that noise can no longer afford to go and those that go are seated too far up while the suits like to be see and socialize. Man the life of the privileged – nice isn’t it. Also, compounding the noise abatement can be the new morphed configuration of the New Garden. I think we’re going to have the noise piped in.

… though I think Feaster was kinda forced to trade Richards (February 26, 2008: Traded to Dallas by Tampa Bay with Johan Holmqvist for Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern, Mike Smith and Dallas’ 4th round choice (later traded to Minnesota, later traded to Edmonton – Edmonton selected Kyle Bigos) in 2009 Entry Draft, February 26, 2008.) and forced to resign by ownership interference in Tampa. And that the Bolts are still trying to recover from that.

Sounds like there is some ambiguity over the rule and how it changed in the new CBA, Carp, so I guess Feaster could be forgiven for some confusion. But you’d think he would check with the league for clarification first.

missed the entire game and didnt see the highlights. Predicted a bad loss the other day then chaos on the boards, then said i’m usually wrong on predictions. So i’m confused was my prediction wrong or right? Wow…. and did Boyle play like a 3rd liner or 4th? LOL

“All Players on a Club’s Restricted Free Agent List will be exempt from application of CBA 13.23 Waivers in case of a mid-season signing.”

The confusion is between whether or not the mid-season signing includes offer sheets, which I’m not sure it does.

Bill Daly did say though that he would’ve had to clear waivers because he was playing in the KHL on the 21st and 23rd as “Rayan O Rayli'” on the game sheets. Since the NHL season officially started on the 19th, he’d have to clear waivers.

So definitely confusion, but like you said, he should’ve checked with the league. Either way he’s an idiot GM.

Also stupid of O’Reilly and his agent to not consider the implications of playing in the KHL beyond 19 January, if signing an offer sheet was going to be a possibility. Unless he was happy about ending up in Columbus.

great win last night saw lots of good things and was really impressed with nash after sitting out 4 games for him not to miss a beat. the guy is a monster. also i thought to myself how in hell is nash not a star of this game with 12 shots on net.

if i have nothing to complain about today it must have been a good solid win and all areas came through.

what i dont understand about colorado is they match the contract for that money and cant trade him for a year.. next year his salary is 6.5 mil. they will have to qualify him at that after next year season end if they want him.

if you were going to match why not sign him earlier and have him for first 19 games

Someone must’ve drugged me last night, because Richards looked like he remembered how to play hockey again. Sure he feels really bad and wants to perform, so good for him.

Gaborik with Boyle? Really? Kreider should be on that line, eventually when he gets more engaged.

Eminger deserves more minutes, he is physical and tough.

Hagelin is the man!

Carp, I remember you recently saying that Nash is a tick below the true superstars of the game. Especially after this performance, I wholeheartedly disagree. He is the total package one of the top 10 players in the game, at least.

eric – because they don’t feel he’s worth that much. They believe they can now trade him next year and get something better in return, something that isn’t as much of a gamble as the draft picks they would’ve received.

An interesting quote from LeBrun’s piece today on Shanahan and the disciplinary process:

_A new rule this season from the new CBA: a 48-hour window after incidents in which teams cannot call Shanahan to vent/lobby/complain. Nada, no communication, unless Shanahan himself reaches out to the team._

man the building was awesome last night and Nash is so far and away the best player on this team it’s not even funny

still, going to need to see if this carries over against Buffalo. it was a good win but considering that the Rangers have scored 25% of their goals this year against Tampa, I’m going to need some further proof that the ship has been righted.

Absolute Bull Pit – I certainly mean this with no disrespect to the musical tastes of anyone who posts here. But how can someone with no talent such as Pit Bull get a recording contract, and on top of that, become a shill for Bud? Did Mick and Keith and Lennon and McCartney pave the way for that? Geez.

biggest problem with Nash thus far is that he doesn’t seem to have a tremendous amount of options when it comes to shooting the puck. everything he does to get himself into position is damn impressive and he brings up the level of the guys around him. that he is capable of getting to the net ahead of the opposition means he’s going to open up scoring opportunities for his teammates so it’s not a huge deal that he’d be on pace for only 17 goals in a full season. and he’s easily the best player on the team so there’s no sense in worrying about him.

boyles role can be filled by many others. he is filling a 4th liners role, PK and hitting but is on the 3rd line..

his production is embarrasing. i assume he is embarrassed by his performance season to date. 1 point, – 7, not much going on….

they need more the n6 forwards who can score especially since they do not have a forward who is top 20 in production. they need to score by committee and therefore 3rd and 4th line msut contribute offensively.

that, Lloyd, is why I really like him with Hagelin. Because I thought Nash opened up things for Hagelin, and Hagelin in turn, gave Nash some ice. He’s been the whole package so far, depite a few lapses defensively — which are not from lack of knowledge of that part of the game. He’s actually quite good in the other end and away from the puck for a scorer.

Carp – wait a minute. During the offseason, I said he’s not a top 20-25 player and you disagreed with me. Now you are saying he’s not? Are you flip-flopping on us?!?

And for everyone else, like I said, Nash has done really well against Tampa because their defense stinks. He has so much room to do whatever he wants against them. Don’t expect him to be allowed to play like that against Pittsburgh or Boston.

stuart, nobody disagrees with you on the issue that he needs to produce some offense. Nobody.

But, even if only as a fourth-liner, he’s better than Powe, Halpern, Asham and many of the others who have played there this year (Rupp, Mashinter, Segal, Newbury, Ferreio or whatever his name was, etc). I’d go as far as to say he’s a more effective player than Pyatt. But of course Pyatt’s had a few go in … so I guess he’s obviously better.

E3 – Nash is not better than Kopitar. Kopitar is a light version of Malkin and plays better defense. He’s a beast. Puts up more points, plays center, plays better defense. He’s one of the more underrated players in the league.

Nash, Hags, and McD and Cally seem to have that inbred sense of where the puck is going to be as opposed to where it presently is that separates the gifted from the good. Gaborik did and no reason to think he won’t regain it. Nash takes the puck with him to where he wants it to be. Confidence has a lot to do with all of it, which can be hard won.

Gotta disagree Carp. Ovechkin has been bad since he stopped using steroids 2 years ago, and I would never take Sedin, Spezza, Hossa, Kopitar, Vanek over Nash. And I think that if forced to choose between Nash, Giroux, Tavares, Datsyuk, Thornton, Stamkos and Kovie its a pretty big toss-up. I’m not saying he is the best in the league but inasmuch as you can rank these guys it is not at all silly to call him a top ten guy.

Stuart makes an argument. However, wins are that matter. If the rangers are losing then just criticism must be levied. Losing is not an option. As long as the rangers are winning, as fans, we should be happy. Pointing out players that are “underachieving” is somewhat reasonable, but not to the extent we lose sight of the big picture, that us, winning the cup.

Vanek has been incredible this year, but he’s been really good since his first year when he was paired with Roy and Afinogenov and they were lighting up the league. His lowest point total since after his rookie year was 53, other than that he’s been around 70-75 and netting 30 a season. He’s better than Nash, but I’d put them in the same class of talented star and not superstar IMO.

I’d take very few centers in the league, probably Crosby, Malkin, Stamkos, Toews and Datsyuk over Kopitar. Factor in age and I’d probably list him over Datsyuk and take Kopitar well ahead of Nash. He’s ever bit as productive and plays a better defensive game.

I think pyatt is better then boyle for 2 reasons. the goals scored is 1 and puck possession is the other. pyatt controls the puck much better then boyle and puck possession reduces teh strain on your defense.

on who can fill boyles role. since i think his role is a penalty killer and to hit. many could halpern could, powe could and ferrerio probably could also. ferrerrio looked good but he does not have a big contract or the pedigree so back to the Whale you go.

boyle does not posses the puck often, does not set up his teammates often either. he is simply a 4th liner and 4th liners are all over the place…

nash is not a top 10 player. top 10 players produce year in and year out.. nash is a spectacular player with great moves but again it is all about production..i hope nash proves me wrong and pucks more pucks in the net over the next few years…

Vanek is actually more like Gaborik. Like Manny said, he’s really streaky. He’ll go out and put up a 3-4 point night, then go cold for a week and pop back up with another 2 points for a few games. He’s still the real deal, just like Gaborik is.

Not saying Karlsson isn’t a good D man, probably the best puck carrying D in the game right now, but there’s also a lot of guys that contribute offensively (albeit not as a high a level) and play a shutdown game.

by the way, in the picture above, what are these two guys still doing in the corner? You can see based on the other guys in the frame that the puck has already moved way behind the net to the other corner..these guys look like they’re fighting over an extra Big Mac that dropped out out of the drive thru window

Carp March 1st, 2013 at 2:20 am
as somebody mentioned a while ago, it’s pretty hilarious that certain “fans” and “regulars” here almost never show up after a win … nothing to complain about, can’t hope the coach gets fired in the morning, can’t trade anybody who had a few bad shifts. Can’t blame a third- or fourth-liner.

But fear not. The Rangers will probably lose a few games along the way and they’ll all be back with their predictable garbage.

I work late on thursdays, so I get the pleasure of hearing Kenny Albert call the game on radio on the way home. he is great. last night it was Don Le Grecca. wow is he bad. had no idea what was going on. for about 10 minutes of the 3rd period the only D man on the ice, according to Le Grecca, was Marc Staal. just awful. the Rangers need to do better than Le Grecca. on the other hand, caught the game highlights on NHL.com. it was the Tampa feed. there guy is really good. I could listen to him call a game.

More news on the O’Reilly stupidity. I believe Colorado technically could’ve claimed him off waivers AND received compensation for the offer sheet since Calgary would be the team that he’d have to clear waivers with. THAT would be hilarious. Mind you there are 6 other teams before Colorado that’d have a shot at him, but would’ve loved to see Calgary lose draft picks and the player they signed to an offer sheet and be left with less than they had before.

Unless the team really couldn’t handle his deal, Lloyd, it’s simply getting a good player without giving any assets up. Somebody not very far down the waiver priority would’ve taken him. I’d have been shocked if Columbus hadn’t.

It was played in MSG last night ..no? If not, then how does Tampa Bay’s pbp TV cast blackout over the Rangers pbp? It was quite trying following their insistent crabbing about all the unfavorable plays by Rangers went against the Bolts. They acted like the Refs were in the Rangers corner.

True, they did pay homage to Rangers top players particularly team speed and the play of
Nash, and Lundqvist, ( they were heap disgusted with their own goal tender), and sort of
sneered at the idea of Rangers having traded away the “key” players of their team just to get Nash. All in all, listening to them was a struggle and they also seemed to be behind the action much of the time…I came close to turning off the voice, but just could’nt bring myself to do it.They also recalled some great moments in Bolt history, with the old Bolt players now with Rangers. Especially Richards.

Hope there’s no more blackouts of MSG broadcasts to the opponent’s callers.

fran, I hear ya. You must live in Florida, only reason I could see you losing the MSG feed. I go through equally painful blackouts as well. The Penguins Paul Steigerwalt and Bob Errey are the worst. Caps announcers are annoying but not nearly the homers the guys from Pittsburgh are.

I believe I may have said the odd negative word about Steigerwald and Errey at times…

One of my favourites from a writer was Rob Rossi describing Crosby as “astonishingly undervalued by the media”, or something like that. Which is possibly the most inaccurate thing I’ve ever seen from someone associated with hockey that didn’t come from Mike Milbury’s mouth or Chris Higgins’ stick.

Really liking how Hagelin and Stepan are becoming bigger impact players just when they needed to step up. And barring any more setbacks, I think the adversity this team is overcoming will be a good thing in the long run.

Henrik is going to have to steal some games and be better down the stretch. He knows this.

Rangers have some secondary scoring, but Nash needs to stay healthy. Even when he’s not scoring he can divert attention of the other team’s top shutdown lines and tire them out in the offensive zone.

How about the commercial where the pig won’t put the move on the brunet when she practically begs for it while they are waiting for a tow? Come on piggy, go for it already. You only get so many opportunities to get sloppy.

Ex3 Kreider troubles me. Timidity doesn’t play well on the ice, no matter how fast you can skate. The rest of the leagues smells it, and he is going to be tested until he overcomes it or becomes a CPA.

Agree with Torts, the kid needs to go down and learn the game, but the team also needs to see if he has the onions to play. I hope he does, but not sure if its in the DNA. Meanwhile Miller, you can tell, has it. Perhaps not the talent level Kreider has but definitely the onions.

if we see it on the HD, the league knows it. That’s what really concerns me though, you know they are drilling it into his head. You know they are telling him to watch how Callaghan plays, but yet he doesn’t show improvement. Its almost like he is showing to much respect to opposing players. Son, your 6’3″ 230, respect no one.

Some internet sites are wrong about that rule’s date. Unless you go to a bone fide league site, they steer you wrong. That’s what I hate about the internet. No true fact check editors like in print. Even print is eschewing fact checking. Sad state. And then movie directors fake history to make it more interesting and topical and a generation of kids grow up with their azzes in their brain.

Kenny Rogers who drummed for the faces took over after moon died – I saw shows on the 79 tour and then may 80 in Montreal – then SD and LA in 82 ( the clash opened in LA) then again in Oakland a few times later in the 80s

Now, I am trying to teach my kid about tsunamis – when the water recedes on a sunny beach, do not be fooled, for a big wave is coming very soon, run for the hills. Sorry, no politics still. Just nature.

With the talk Sather wants to bring back Zuccarello into the fold, how likely is this, and what do you think of him?
I’ve always liked him, and didn’t think he received enough of a chance the first time around. I’d put him right on the 3rd line, and give him PP minutes. They could use his passing, movement, and shiftiness on the PP, because we all know the PP is always too stationary.

coos – I haven’t been on the boards much this year yet. Are you the board dictionary? :)
Eddie – Man, if Boyle could actually develop some skill to take advantage of his big body, but I don’t see any difference with him at all. Zucc at least has some skill. Bring him in. IMO, they are going to need a better than average 3rd line to beat the Pens, Bruins, maybe Devs in the playoffs.

If any of you folks who have quoted that Henry 5th statement enjoy reading historical novels but novels with a lot of historical facts behind them, try Bernard Cornwell, ( his latest is 1356;
(what a hell of a year to have lived in) and his novel Agincourt wonderfully describes the way Henry with a small group of English archers, virtually wiped out the entire nobility of France, and their great steeds and long lances barreling down on the English position. He,s covered many great historical moments in his books.